


Stormy Nights

by boblemon



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-26
Updated: 2014-03-26
Packaged: 2018-01-17 01:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1369105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boblemon/pseuds/boblemon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life wasn't the best for Jun, but at least it was simple. Satoshi changed that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stormy Nights

**Author's Note:**

> This story was created by three things coming together: a prompt by doctoggy for Ohno to pursue Jun (since I usually write it the other way around), a comment that I should write more fun/happy-go-lucky things like A Day in the Life, and reading “Castle in the Air” by Diana Wynne Jones and wanting to write something Aladdin-y. The basis for this was inspired by that book. Special thanks to yarukizero and r_tenou for looking it over for me. Originally posted at my livejournal [here](http://saigo-no-lady.livejournal.com/32584.html) although with slight updates for grammar and spelling.

Our story begins in a hot desert land, in a city inhabited by every class, poor beggars to wealthy merchants, orphans to majestic princes, surrounding the sultan’s palace, sparkling like a diamond in the endless sand. No building could match the brilliance of such a work of art, but many of the wealthier civilians tried to, with glittering ivory towers and thousand year old flowers in their gardens, hanging priceless tapestries off of balconies as if welcoming thieves to try their hand.  
  
But alas, our group of heroes was not _that_ stupid, and chose their thieving mark as something much less noticeable and much more _necessary_. Of course in any culture and in any story there are said to be various kinds of thieves, most of them villainous and thirsty for blood. But occasionally a more admirable thief can be found, stealing with only thoughts of helping others, less fortunate others, or simply because it is what has been demanded of them by their lot in life.  
  
As expected our own protagonist is of the latter thread, although with two accomplices, and chose his marks with careful thought and planned with no room for error. Although, as we all know, there are always errors.  
  
“Behind the meat vendor!” A muscular soldier, dressed only in a turban and flowing white pants made to survive in the hot desert air, pointed his curved sword in the same direction his words indicated, and Jun ran as fast as he could as he turned the corner.  
  
The plan had been simple. Although it was their usual one, it was the one that _always_ worked. The only reason it hadn’t today was because of an unlucky encounter Jun had with a city guard as he made his escape. He managed to avoid the large hands that grabbed for him and his obviously stolen melon, and darted towards their nearest tested escape route.  
  
Which was right where he ran into another group of guards. They had come running at all the racket that was suddenly coming from the marketplace when the melon stand owner started yelling.  
  
Somehow he managed to dodge again, this time using a storage barrel placed against the side of a worn building to boost himself up on to the top of a stall’s wooden roof, and took off above uneven tents and sturdy sun coverings. _This_ was why Jun was always the one in the actual thieving position instead of a distraction like the others, because he was agile and he could run fast enough to make a getaway when it was called for.  
  
Due to that, his pursuers were having a hard time keeping up with him, following on the ground because they were too muscular or fat to jump as effortlessly as Jun did and therefore could only hope he would fall before he was out of sight.  
  
So Jun was careful because one misstep would be the end of him, but that didn’t mean that fate wasn’t going to just stick her noise in where it didn’t belong and urge him to step on this board instead of that one when he crossed over the top of a rickety old storeroom. It was one that he crossed a million times over the years, but today was different and he promptly noticed when the plank began to crumble under his barely moderate weight.  
  
He fell clean through the roof and hit the floor hard, breaking several light boxes and clay barrels underneath him as well as sending up a cloud of dust into the air. Luckily enough, it was impossible for the guards to burst in and corner him, at least for another few minutes, because the entrance to this particular storeroom was at the end of an alley two streets over. The place had probably been altogether forgotten by the rich owner years and years ago, and therefore other buildings had been allowed to be built around it as closely as possible for efficiency’s sake.  
  
It really wasn’t that bad of a situation, except his melon had cracked open, and Jun was stuck under the rubble and his knees hurt and he was already starving and now he had used up all of his energy too. But he wasn’t going to squabble his chance, so he immediately started working himself out of the wreckage. As expected, once he began pushing things out of the way, not really giving much thought to the items since he was pressed for time, one thing fell into another, causing another pile of rubble to collapse. Half of the room was on its precarious way to ruin, but he just let it go with nothing other than a soft curse and twitching eyebrow.  
  
Self preservation was at the top of his list now, so Jun instead turned his energy to trying to remember how strong the lock on this door was, and wondering if he could make it back through the hole in the ceiling he had created instead. That route was much safer.  
  
When he was finally able to pull one of his legs (uninjured, thankfully) from the remains of an oversized clay pot, he began struggling towards the cleared space by the door. It was only from there that he would be able to analyze the situation enough to see what would work.  
  
Then without warning he was terrified with fright, frozen in place, as the swirling dust began to collect together to form a body, slightly blue and very _very_ big.  
  
“Who dares disturb my slumber?!” a booming voice exploded, shaking the walls of the rickety shack and making Jun lose what little footing he had gained in the mess and fall over again.  
  
No, no, no, this wasn’t happening to him. Jun had stayed away from magic as much as he could for his entire life, knowing it would bring him nothing but trouble. _Everyone_ knew that. Unless you were trained like the sultan’s magicians were, there was no way to control magic and it wasn’t even worth trying unless you wanted to end up dead, or worse than that.  
  
The _thing_ , whatever it was, materialized more, the dust coming together and forming a torso with an oversized chest that appeared to be bulging with muscles bigger than the guards that had been chasing Jun. They were unrealistic to say the least, and Jun _certainly_ would have said that much if he wasn’t both terrified of whatever it was, as well as the lingering threat of the guards busting in at any second.  
  
Momentarily the face became more defined: a sharp nose stuck out over a pair of perfectly shaped lips, and two eyes opened without warning, looking just as real as Jun’s own, brown and sparkling with power.  
  
The eyes immediately found their target and zoned in on Jun in the corner even as he tried to become as small as he could. The blue dust moved together and came at him, its arms extended much farther than should have been possible and it was reaching out for him and…  
  
Jun squeezed his eyes closed and tensed up, his arms wrapped protectively across his chest as he waited for the worst to happen.  
  
And he continued to wait a few more seconds more before he opened his eyes and was met with a cute chubby face, not much smaller than his own in size, and he took a short breath of relief. Then he saw that the normal (albeit tan) exposed torso faded into the bluish cloud that had been on the verge of attacking him, and tapered into a single strand not bigger than his finger that was spread across the floor to another pile of things that had come crashing down when Jun had.  
  
“You’re very handsome,” the thing said to him with what Jun thought was curiosity, and Jun stared back in utter astonishment at the change in situation.  
  
“Wh-what?” was all he could think of to stutter in reply as he stared at the brown, human-looking face. If only the bottom half wasn’t missing, he might have been able to pull himself together enough to escape before anything else happened. But no, he was still too terrified.  
  
“My other masters have all been old, or fat, or completely _rotted_ on the inside--you’d be surprised how gross that is after you’ve only been together for a few days,” came the casual reply. The thing seemed like it wanted to continue its explanation but Jun’s panic for the guards was rising now that he wasn’t completely dead and didn’t think he would be any time soon (at least if he could escape).  
  
“ _Masters_ —“ he got out in a confused tone, suddenly wondering if he had bumped his head on the way down and was having a hallucination right now, his body incapacitated and just waiting for his pursuers to find him.  
  
“That’s right. I’m a genie you know, we have—“  
  
“Genie?” he replied quickly, finding his mind slowly unfreezing the more they talked. Finally he was able to adjust his weight and began to pull himself out of the mess of broken crates and half-crumbled dirt that had been a pot mere minutes before.  
  
“That’s what I said isn’t it?” the voice became annoyed, an emotion that was mirrored by the slight quirk of eyebrows and down turned lips on the genie’s face.  
  
“What the hell are you doing _here_ , then?” Jun replied, wondering why he was even humoring his curiosity in this scenario. Genies were still magic and even if he didn’t know much about them, he was sure it would be nothing but trouble. But then again, since they were independent magic sources, unlike curses or enchantments, Jun could probably just walk out of here and not worry about any after effects, as long as he cut off the interaction soon.  
  
He only struggled a little as he finally got on his feet and the genie just continued to watch him, slowly rising in the same instance as Jun did so that their faces remained at the same height. His lower half was still blue smoke, though.  
  
But the genie’s face broke out in a grin as he replied (even though Jun turned away to survey the ceiling and anything surrounding him that he could use to climb back up with), and folded his arms across his chest in a conceited fashion. “Actually, my last master wished that ‘I would get the hell away from him’ and I ended up here. Seemed like a nice place.” The smile turned content as he continued to watch Jun with an unwavering gaze, and he floated closer, trying to catch Jun’s eyes even as Jun ignored him and continued to examine the room.  
  
After a moment of thinking in silence, Jun managed to catch up with the explanation and replied, “It is. I hope you have a good time,” and then walked over to the wall of things that _hadn’t_ been ruined and began pulling one of the boxes towards his hole.  
  
It was pretty heavy, though, and the genie only watched in mild amusement as Jun struggled. There wasn’t nearly enough time. He could hear voices outside confirming that they had found the place he had fallen, and just as Jun turned to the door in a panic, it began to shake under the weight of the men on the other side.  
  
He thought fast, shooting a glance over at the genie and wondering if he was going to regret this somehow.  
  
“So, you can grant me a wish, then, great genie?”  
  
A huge smile spread across those perfect lips, allowing the eyes to droop a little in what Jun would learn was the genie’s signature expression.  
  
“Yes, but only one per day, although I’ve been known to give one a day or two in advance.”  
  
The door was cracking under the pressure and he only had a few seconds to decide what to do. Best to keep it as simple as possible.  
  
“I wish you’d make those men go away!” Jun said quickly, pointing towards the entrance of the storehouse and the genie turned slowly to look in that direction, although he didn’t stop smirking.  
  
“Sure.”  
  
The door finally caved and Jun dove behind one of the larger crates, where there was barely enough room for him, and waited, hoping that his wish would be followed properly because it was all he had now. It was common knowledge that genies were notorious for twisting words to their own whims, so Jun figured half of dealing with them was intelligence, and the other half pure luck.  
  
“Who the hell are you?!” he heard a rough voice yell out. They must have seen the genie and stopped because the rest of them weren’t filing in, just the first three or four in line from what Jun could make out with hearing alone. When they didn’t come looking for him, he snuck a glance at the scene.  
  
The genie no longer looked like a genie at all, but like a normal man, in a small blue vest and flowing white pants that wrapped around his ankles, sandals on his tanned feet and brown hair to match his brown skin. He looked completely ordinary in a completely _unordinary_ way.  
  
Without saying a word, he reached into the folds of his pants and pulled out a small drawstring bag, opening it up and displaying several gold coins before throwing it at the feet of the guard in front.  
  
They froze and glanced down at the offered money before the head of the group motioned to the one behind him to pick it up. They took it and examined the coins before casually glancing around as if to make sure no one was looking, then headed back out the front, talking in hushed voices before the conversation settled. Jun closed his eyes and hoped.  
  
Eventually one of them yelled that he had escaped and the group of them took off out of the alley, leaving behind a rather heavy silence.  
  
Once again Jun wondered what he had gotten in to, cowering in the corner even as the genie turned to stare at him. He still looked like a regular man, his legs attached and planted firmly on the ground underneath him while his hands rested on his hips in satisfaction.  
  
Jun knew very little about genies, but included in that knowledge was that they were tricky, and this one seemed especially bad if his smirk was anything to go by.  
  
He had saved him, though, when Jun didn’t have a choice but to ask (even if he probably would have escaped had the genie not appeared in the first place, but that was in the past now).  
  
Somehow Jun pulled himself together and came out from his hiding place, sighing and staring at the genie who actually looked completely pleased with himself. In this form he was just a bit shorter than Jun, and handsome in a very defined and almost _plain_ way. Understandably, though, as he wouldn’t really stand out in a crowd or draw unwanted attention to himself.  
  
“Was there some catch to that?” Jun asked resignedly, expecting the worst case situation. “Do I have to pay you back for that money a thousand times over or something?” He really hoped not, because he didn’t have anything more than what they needed for himself and his two close friends. And what would a genie need with money anyway?  
  
“Oh no,” he replied in a soft voice, almost as if he had used all of his energy on that wish. His smile even mellowed a little and his shoulders dropped. But he was watching Jun with his full attention, waiting for a reaction to his amazing powers. “It will just disappear in another minute or two.”  
  
Jun’s mouth fell open and he was stuck like that while his mind processed the situation. Then he completely panicked again.  
  
“Damn it, I need to go!” He would have cursed the trickster genie too, except he knew that they were that way by nature, and there were a lot of worse ways he could have gotten rid of those guards. Somehow he felt like the thing had gone easy on him.  
  
“Aw, you’re going?” The genie actually sounded a little sad and that caught Jun off guard. “Take me with you,” he whined, his bottom half gradually melding back into the blue smoke of his earlier form, the same thin rope-shaped strand stretching across the floor to return to the same pile of things that it had earlier.  
  
“Absolutely not.” Jun lost all pity he had for the genie in that second and started pushing his box back towards the hole in the ceiling. He could probably jump from there, since the front door was now just as dangerous as it had been in the first place. “You’ll only make my life complicated.”  
  
“But, uhm…” he continued to stare at Jun shyly and drifted closer when he began pushing the box across the dirt floor again. “I can grant you another wish, tomorrow.”  
  
Although he knew that would only cause more trouble, Jun couldn’t help but be tempted. He wasn’t greedy, but there were things that one _needed_ in life--like food. Things that Jun was sorely lacking, and his friends weren’t any better off.  
  
Well, maybe they would know what to do with him. If nothing else, Jun could get rid of him later, he supposed.  
  
“Fine. But only if you help me get out of here!” Jun said in a frustrated voice, annoyed with himself for giving in when he really knew he shouldn’t. This was only going to be trouble.  
  
The genie perked up right away, smiling again and floating directly next to him. “Well, I can do that right away! You just need to get my bottle out of _that_ —“ he pointed to the pile that his blue wisp was leading to, and Jun, still frustrated, threw his hands up in the air and stomped over to it, pushing things out of the way without a second thought and breaking a few more pots.  
  
Luckily enough he found the bottle without much problem, a plain looking blue thing with a narrow top, where the wisp was attached through the lip as if there was much more inside that couldn’t get out. Trying not to waste time, Jun pulled out a purple head scarf that was sticking out of the rumble (he had no qualms about stealing when he needed it, but he wouldn’t be taking anything else from the storage room, even if they could use it—he did indeed have a conscience about this sort of thing). It was the perfect size, so he wrapped it securely around the bottle and then looped it around his hip so it swung to his side, resting on his thigh, and turned back to the genie, who appeared to be completely delighted with the situation.  
  
“Well, come on!” Jun ignored the pleased look and went back to stand under the hole as the genie floated closer.  
  
Without warning he was easily picked up and lifted through the open ceiling. Before he could even squeak in surprise (as he was about to do, as much as he tried to stop himself), he was once again placed rather gently back on the ground, which was now the stable part of the roof.  
  
Jun turned to the genie with his eyebrows raised and a harsh comment about _warning people before you did things like that_ , but the words died when he saw how absolutely satisfied the thing was with himself. Obviously he had meant to do exactly what he had and that frustrated Jun enough that he reconsidered his offer to take the genie with him.  
  
But the bottle was already attached and a wish for tomorrow would be nice and he couldn’t help but feel just a _little tiny bit_ bad for leaving the genie alone. He swallowed his anger as much as he could and instead curtly demanded, “Now get back in your bottle and make sure you’re not seen until we get home!”  
  
With a brightened smile, the genie followed the instructions, twirling around twice as he shrunk like he was a screw going back into its proper place.  
  
“Don’t bump me around too much. I might get sick or something—“ the voice echoed slightly as if the inside of the bottle was actually a deep cave made of glass.  
  
“Be quiet would you? Where’s your cork?” Jun shot back, glaring down at the innocent item dangling from his hip. His action made him feel a little ridiculous, because even though _he_ knew the thing was in there, there was no physical indication that he existed anymore, and even when he looked inside, it was only a vague cloudy blue that could have easily been a play of the light as far as a normal person was concerned.  
  
“Well, it’s back in that pile you pulled my bottle out of—“ the genie replied rather quickly, but before Jun could even consider going back for it, he continued in a pouting voice, “But please don’t use it. That’s a really mean thing to do, you know, covering my only means of escape and forcing me to stay in here. How would _you_ like it if—“  
  
“Okay, I got it.” Jun’s temper had simmered out, but he was still pressed for time and needed to get back to make sure the others had escaped without getting caught. “Just keep quiet and do what I say, then!”  
  
There was a noise of irritation shot back at him, but after that the conversation ended, so Jun took off over the roofs again. Now that he had a moment to think, he was sad for his wasted melon that had cost them all so much to lose in such a mundane way. But he was also feeling like he had gotten something much better out of the deal… as long as the stupid genie decided to keep cooperating.  
  
+++  
  
Jun, being completely penniless and with no family to call his own other than his two close friends, lived in a pavilion on top of a mansion that he neither owned nor paid for. In fact, he had lived in the local slums until the age of ten, in which he had discovered that one of the lesser (but still incredibly wealthy) merchants had decided to display his wealth more obviously by building a new palace on the other side of town. Of course, if he sold his old apartments he would lose face because one should only sell if they are in need of the money… and that sort of rumor would be around town in days!  
  
So, like most men of his class he simply moved the things he wished to move and left the rest as it was. But where other, wealthier lords could afford to keep guards or a family in their previous palace, this one could not and instead simply had an intricate gate built in front and then abandoned it.  
  
And that was the state in which the three of them had found it. Of course they weren’t stupid enough to waltz right in and take the thing over, but after a thorough exploration they found the perfect new home: a moderately sized lounging pavilion on the roof of the tallest building with an overlook of not only the entire grounds of the empty palace, but the city’s skyline and all the way to the sultan’s palace too.  
  
They had chosen it for several reasons. Firstly, it had been left with most of its furnishings, hammocks and decorative tables and pots, and a small pool in the corner that Jun insisted they use for bathing (as their class would be obvious if they walked around half caked in dirt all the time, and that made not only living but stealing especially that more difficult; one did not suspect a clean man as much as a dirty one). It also had tactical advantages, as there was only one entrance: a set of stairs leading down into the pleasure quarters. The only other way to enter the open room was across the roof, which is how they usually came and went. They could see everything and if someone started snooping around the grounds they would know long before trouble hit them (or at least that was the plan, but no one had bothered them in the last eleven years, so they figured their plan was holding out).  
  
But since it was so open, built so that the most wind could be felt on the hottest days of summer, sometimes they were left to the elements with the occasional bad storm as well. On the other hand, it was never cold enough to need more shelter and there was a roof over their heads which was the important part, keeping them out of the rain and shielding them from the burning sun.  
  
So when Jun came home, easily walking across a rope that was barely the thickness of his wrist as he had done a million times before--the one that connected their pavilion with the roof of the next building and had probably been used for laundry at one point in its earlier lifetime--Masaki and Kazu saw him right away and waited impatiently for him at the open balcony.  
  
“Jun! I was so worried!” Masaki exclaimed promptly, his brownish hair sticking out all over the place, no doubt mussed as he nervously waited. When Jun jumped onto the familiar tiled floor he was even pulled into a hug.  
  
“I’m fine,” he replied, trying to sound annoyed when he could feel his own relief washing through his arms and legs. In fact, he was _more_ than fine, which in and of itself was not quite right.  
  
Kazu seemed to notice the same time that he did. Even after hurrying all the way back here he wasn’t even winded, and there weren’t any physical signs of him falling through the roof earlier. He really hoped this didn’t have anything to do with…  
  
“You… don’t have a scratch on you. I’d thought you’d be roughed up from running at least…” Kazu said suspiciously, pushing Masaki away to examine Jun himself, looking pointedly at the bottle draped around his waist. “Did you lose the melon?”  
  
At the mention of their target, Masaki’s expression immediately fell as he realized the lack of said item.  
  
“Yes,” Jun sighed, rubbing his head and walking past them to plop down on the faded pillow he had claimed as his own when they had first come. They had a small setup near their hammocks and honestly, there was more than enough space for another fifty people to live here, so they had just picked a corner and made it cozy, leaving the rest of the area as it was. Their space included a plain table that was bare except for the remains of their planning this morning. “I made it as far as the fountain square using the rooftops, but one little misstep and I find myself in the middle of a half ruined storehouse and then—“  
  
Just as he was about to relay the story of the guards and genie (more the guards, though), he was saved the effort by a smooth cloud of blue smoke slipping out of the bottle and forming the same face as earlier, half of a man’s tanned torso fading into a line of smoke that led back to the bottle.  
  
“Jun! What’s that?!” Masaki yelled in surprise, pointing at the genie, his mouth half open.  
  
Kazu also looked surprised, an expression that they hardly ever saw on his face, but he collected himself right away and narrowed his eyes while the genie gently floated down next to Jun, close enough that he could rest his head on Jun’s bare shoulder.  
  
“A genie?” Kazu asked suspiciously. “Jun, you should know better than to mess with magic. You should have just left it there.”  
  
“That would have been mean,” the genie replied simply, mimicking Jun and watching the other two men as they slowly started to come closer.  
  
Not really sure where to start but knowing that he had to tell Kazu every detail that he could remember (because Kazu was the planner, and he would know how to use this thing without getting screwed over in the end), he started with the guards and then worked his way back. Surprisingly enough the genie didn’t add any commentary, except for when Jun forgot to mention that there had been exactly four guards and another two of them waiting outside.  
  
When he was finished, Masaki and Kazu were seated across from him in their usual spots around the low table, both still staring at their new addition, although with very different intentions. Masaki looked curious and enthusiastic, but Kazu looked wary and suspicious; as if he was trying to figure out whether it was too good to be true or not.  
  
As Jun had spoke, the genie had gone from simply resting his chin on his shoulder to wrapping his arms around Jun’s torso, and when Jun finally realized it, the thing was stuck to him like a pet monkey, still watching the other two with only half interest. He didn’t have any weight to him and Jun could barely tell when he moved at all, but he was warm with flesh just like the rest of them. When Jun noticed where his thoughts were going, he had to take a second to collect himself before he pried the arms off of him and shook the genie away with an embarrassed frown. “Don’t do that!” he chided and the genie only glared back, but floated away with his two arms folded over his chest, sticking out his perfect bottom lip as he turned to survey his surroundings with obvious boredom.  
  
Jun faced Kazu again, hoping he had come up with something, and indeed that calculating look was embedded in his friend’s gaze as it followed the genie’s movements.  
  
After licking his lips unconsciously, Kazu cleared his throat and said in a voice that was part respect and part sweetness-- a voice that he used for dealing with the authorities-- “What’s your name, great genie? You _do_ have one right?”  
  
“Of course I have one!” the genie snapped back, turning around and glaring at Kazu. Immediately his eyes caught Jun’s gaze and he relaxed just a little before promptly ignoring him, giving Kazu his full attention even if he didn’t act like it was worth it. “Everyone has a name, don’t they? _You_ have a name.”  
  
“Yes…” Kazu licked his dry lips again and forced his expression to stay the same. “What is it, then?”  
  
“Satoshi.” He was still half pouting.  
  
“O Great Genie Satoshi,” Kazu called him reverently, bowing a little and making Jun’s eyes grow wide, but the genie seemed to at least admire the effort he was putting into complimenting him, even if he apparently wasn’t affected otherwise. “If you don’t mind me asking, how long as it been since your last master wished you away?”  
  
Satoshi shot Jun a glance as if to say, _see, he cares_ , and turned back to Kazu before replying conversationally, “I guess it’s been about forty years by now.”  
  
“Wow! Forty years!” Masaki broke in with a huge smile of admiration. “That’s a while! You must have been around for a long time!”  
  
Jun hadn’t thought of it that way, and in fact he hadn’t really considered Satoshi’s age at all, since he barely looked any older than Jun himself was. But he supposed genies were a different breed of _thing_ weren’t they?  
  
The statement seemed to pacify him though, because the genie finally broke out in a small smile of his own and replied, “Yep, I’ve been a genie for going on seven thousand years now.”  
  
“Seven _thousand_ —“ Masaki started to reply, but Kazu cut him off, not surprised at all by the number.  
  
“O Great Satoshi, does that mean you were something before you were a genie?” he asked casually, but they all froze and Kazu’s eye twitched as the atmosphere was lost and his probing question was laid out for exactly what it was.  
  
“Sorry, I can’t talk about anything from before I was a genie. It’s part of the curse,” Satoshi explained, completely neutral about it and obviously losing interest in the conversation again.  
  
“But you _were_ something before you were a genie. What you said proves it!” Kazu accused.  
  
“And… I can’t talk about it,” he replied in a dead-pan voice. Jun wondered why that even mattered in the first place. Who cared if he was something (obviously a human if the form he had used to get rid of the guards was anything to go by) before he was a genie? His eyes conveyed that exact message to Kazu with a glare, and he folded his arms again, not missing when Satoshi did the exact thing right after him.  
  
“Kazu, we need to think about what to wish for, something he won’t mess up,” Jun led the conversation in a different direction, and the devious glint came back into his friend’s eyes.  
  
“Actually, you said you can grant a wish a day, right? Although you’ve been known to grant one a day or two in advance…?”  
  
Jun really felt like Kazu had lost his mind, making stupid statements about genies and asking questions that they had already gone over when usually he was so eloquent and, and _brilliant_.  
  
“Yes…” Satoshi replied slowly, not getting what the other man was aiming at either.  
  
“Well, I mean, you already granted Jun’s wish for today, right? Well, what about me and Masaki? I’m sure since it’s been forty years you have another two wishes you can pulls from those days you were waiting, don’t you?” he asked and Jun felt completely floored. He didn’t even know what he wanted to ask for next and Kazu was already trying to squeeze more wishes out of him.  
  
“Hmm…” the genie made a sound to indicate he was considering the request, then turned pointedly to Jun and _looked_ at him.  
  
It was dead silent while Jun stole a glance back, wondering what he wanted. It was _Kazu_ making the request; what did Jun have to do with any of it?  
  
Kazu cleared his throat again, catching his friend’s eye and gesturing at him to get on with it. Jun rubbed his forehead first before he just gave up and decided to go along with the whole thing. At least it seemed like the other man had a plan.  
  
“Satoshi,” he said in a half exasperated voice, turning to the genie, and already Satoshi was perking up, his lips twitching when he stopped himself from smiling as he waited in anticipation. “I think it’s only fair if you give both of them wishes too…” His voice was polite in a forced manner, and he tried his best to be pleasant about it, but that didn’t stop him from feeling annoyed that _he_ had to be the one to take care of everything.  
  
“I _am_ a little tired you know. Granting wishes takes a lot out of me—“ he explained in a bargaining voice, floating a little closer to Jun, who sighed and closed his eyes briefly, trying to suppress his urge to hit _all_ of them over the head.  
  
“ _Fine_.” He didn’t even know what was being asked of him, but he was sick of this roundabout argument and clenched his fists while he waited for whatever Satoshi wanted to do to him to get his way.  
  
And was relieved to find that the genie simply wrapped himself around him again, resting his warm chin on his shoulder almost weightlessly and loosely slipping his arms around Jun’s waist. It really wasn’t so bad, he tried to tell himself, and was definitely worth getting this whole thing over with.  
  
“Okay, what’re your wishes?” he asked contently. Jun could feel the bare chest against his back as the genie began to relax even more, dropping his shoulders as if he was settling in for the long term. Even his blue wisp of a bottom half rested against Jun’s thigh where it was attached to the bottle still hanging off of his hips, tilted as it rested on the ground next to him.  
  
Kazu, being the thinker that he was, remained silent and became dazed as he lost himself inside his own head, but only a few seconds later Masaki’s face lit up, and before either of his friends could stop him from saying anything stupid he had already gotten his request out.  
  
“Oh, I know! I wish for some melons because I was really looking forward to eating those for dinner tonight! We haven’t eaten for two days you know, Satoshi, so we’re all really hungry—“ he was avidly narrating his reasons, but before he had gotten any farther, the genie simply smirked and raised his hand to snap his fingers before replacing them around Jun’s waist.  
  
About ten melons fell out of the air, landing on the floor behind where Masaki and Kazu were sitting. Luckily they hadn’t been very high up and even though some of them on the bottom splattered, they could still be salvaged.  
  
“Damn it, Masaki!” Kazu cursed first, smacking him on the head hard enough that Masaki cried out in surprise and rubbed the same spot with his hand.  
  
“What?” he asked with a whiny voice, watching Kazu as he turned to Satoshi and Jun, looking pointedly at the genie.  
  
“Okay, where did they come from?” he asked in a flat voice, knowing that something was the matter with the way the wish had been granted because there was _always_ something the matter.  
  
Even though he had been put on the spot, Satoshi smirked anyway, not moving at all as he explained. “From the stand you were stealing from earlier, where else? You should just be lucky that I didn’t bring the whole thing along with the owner, as I usually would have.” He emphasized the meaning of that statement by squeezing his arms tighter around Jun, and in that moment Jun really realized how much damage could be done by this thing he had so casually brought into their lives. Especially with Masaki’s big mouth and Jun stuck in between them all.  
  
“Satoshi, you wouldn’t have! That’s mean!” Masaki seemed taken aback and Kazu beat Jun to the second whack on the back of the head for his stupidity.  
  
“But look at how many melons you have now,” the genie replied easily, and Masaki actually looked thoughtfully at the pile of them for a second before half smiling. Actually, Jun was relieved to have a meal, even if he was already positive he would be sick of melons before tomorrow. Oh well, maybe Masaki would find a creative way to keep the rest of them before they went bad.  
  
“I guess we should just count ourselves lucky and move on,” Kazu commented solemnly, staring at the genie again. “There’s no way they can trace those back here, right?” he added for good measure, pointing over his shoulder.  
  
“No,” Satoshi replied confidently, meeting Kazu’s eyes with a bored expression. “What’s your wish? Better hurry up before I fall asleep.” He punctuated his statement with a wide yawn and slumped against Jun even more.  
  
“Unlike this idiot,” Kazu replied tentatively, hitting Masaki on the head for the third time and making him wince, “I need time to think about it.” His expression turned just slightly smug, and Jun realized he had already planned this much, probably from the start. “Could you give me until tomorrow?”  
  
Jun thought he was pushing it, but he felt Satoshi shrug against him and let out another yawn before explaining, “Sure. It’s easier for me anyway. I’m already really tired…”  
  
“You should take a nap then,” Kazu replied, his tone overly sweet. Motioning behind him he added, “We appreciate all of the melons you brought us.” It was obvious he was trying to stay on the genie’s good side, but Jun could already tell none of that would work with Satoshi. Although, it was certainly better than the other side of Kazu’s personality, such as the scolding that Masaki was going to get in another five minutes.  
  
“Hmm, I think I will.” Satoshi slid his arms up to Jun’s shoulders and peered around him to look into his face. He gave him a soft smile before requesting, “Could you keep my bottle in your lap while I’m sleeping? I think that’s the most comfortable place.”  
  
Frowning, Jun felt a pang of annoyance, but Kazu caught his eye and motioned for him to comply. As much as it pained him to follow the whims of this genie, he also trusted Kazu’s judgment and certainly didn’t want to be subjected to more backlash than was necessary. Indeed it was better to keep on Satoshi’s good side and get one meaningful wish in-- hopefully one that wouldn’t get screwed up halfway through--before cutting off all ties with the thing and going back to their lives as they should be.  
  
For the rest of the night, as the bottle lay in his lap looking just as innocent as ever, Jun amused himself with ways to get rid of it tomorrow while Kazu was busy yelling at Masaki and Masaki was busy stuffing his face with melon.

 

Satoshi didn’t leave his bottle, even once Jun had gone to bed himself and woken up the next morning. He had taken the bottle to his hammock with him, cradling it in the crook of his arm as he slept, and he half expected something creepy to happen like Satoshi watching him when he opened his eyes.  
  
But it didn’t and Jun cleaned his face and ate half a melon for breakfast (yes, he was sick of them already) before he finally got irritated at his own curiosity and shook the bottle a little.  
  
“Satoshi?” He tapped it when the genie didn’t come out right away, and wondered if he had just imagined everything that had happened yesterday. Except that the pile of melons was still there, its grandeur barely reduced, and Kazu was thoughtfully lying in his own hammock as he continued to think about what to wish for.  
  
It took a few more shakes and Jun sticking his finger halfway down the bottle’s neck before the blue wisp finally stirred and sluggishly exited the bottle, forming Satoshi’s torso as naturally as it had yesterday.  
  
“Oh, it’s a new day is it?” he asked, yawning again and automatically reclining against Jun’s chest, looking over at Masaki, who was cutting up the battered melons and placing them in a clear jar. It was all casual enough that it was almost like the genie had already been with them for much longer than one evening.  
  
It took most of Jun’s self control to not push Satoshi off of him, but he still had that one wish and he wasn’t going to do anything stupid until he got it.  
  
Not that he knew what to wish for. Even after hashing it out with Kazu last night he hadn’t come up with something really good. In fact, the best outcome seemed to be making several small wishes that wouldn’t get messed up as easily as one big wish might, and at least they would be easier to correct if something went wrong.  
  
Besides, Jun wanted to see what Kazu was going to wish for first, since he was so focused on coming up with something.  
  
“What’s he doing?” Satoshi asked suddenly, lazily pointing over to Masaki, who was now filling the jar with a strong smelling liquid.  
  
“Trying to preserve the melons,” Jun curtly replied, but he couldn’t quite keep up his indifferent mood as much as he wanted to. His friend was satisfyingly amusing on normal days, and having to deal with a pile of melons only made him more so, despite all of Kazu’s harsh words—which both of them knew he only half meant.  
  
“You can do that?” he replied curiously, the blue wisp leading back to the bottle twitching a little as if he was getting excited. “I’ve never heard of it.”  
  
Without meaning to, Jun relaxed, letting his straight back curve forward and gently brushing Satoshi’s quite real brown hair with his cheek.  
  
“I guess it’s a pretty recent development, considering how old you are. They sell a few things in the marketplace, but it’s mostly vegetables. I’ve never heard of pickled melon before. It’s probably going to be nasty.”  
  
Jun sighed at the thought. But it was better than letting them go to waste, and going hungry himself.  
  
“They’re not so bad!” Masaki broke in, glancing over at them with a smile. “It makes them pretty mushy though,” he added with a giggle.  
  
“Disgusting.” Having to add his own opinion after watching them, Kazu jumped out of his hammock and slowly walked over to where Jun was lounging on his floor pillow, Satoshi still snugly claiming his lap. He looked at them pointedly, but by the expression on his face, it was obvious he was pleased that Jun was taking the initiative to win Satoshi over.  
  
“Kazu, did you think of your wish yet?” the genie asked curiously.  
  
“No. You’ll give me ‘til tonight, right?” he replied sweetly.  
  
Satoshi shrugged. “Sure.”  
  
“Great,” Kazu commented, even though it was obviously the answer he was expecting. “Well, then, I guess you can go on rounds with Jun today. Just keep out of trouble.” There was that smile on his face again, the one that made Jun frown. It was enough that Jun was being made to humor the genie in the first place, the least Kazu could do was stop _encouraging_ him.  
  
“Rounds?” Satoshi’s voice was more animated than it had been most of yesterday.  
  
“Yep, we go once a week!” Masaki threw in helpfully without turning away from his project. “To get information about what’s going on around here! Actually I was getting impatient because I’m really nervous for Sho, you know. There’s supposed to be a witch after him! And we haven’t heard anything recently!”  
  
Now the genie was really interested. “Sho? Witch?” He turned his head from Masaki to Jun to prod him into giving him an explanation without saying anything more.  
  
But Jun was saved the effort of acting annoyed and complaining about it by Masaki, who wasn’t quite done talking yet, overjoyed at having a new set of eager ears.  
  
“Don’t you know Sho? He’s the sultan’s son, but he’s actually our friend. Isn’t that amazing? Like a fairy tale—“  
  
“He’s _not_ our friend, Masaki. How can a prince be friends with people like us?” Kazu cut in sourly, motioning around them needlessly.  
  
“Yes he is! He saved us from those guards that one time! And he got in a lot of trouble, he _has_ to be our friend to do something like that!”  
  
It seemed like they were going to continue to argue about it, but Satoshi turned back to Jun again and said, “I don’t get it,” without any subtlety at all.  
  
Jun was slightly pleased to have his own turn at talking, even though he wasn’t quite sure why he needed the genie’s attention when he was still plastered to him like a pet monkey. A _spoiled_ one.  
  
“Sho was the leader of our group a few years ago. Actually, we figured he was different from us since the beginning. He would go home most nights, and miraculously bring back food with him when we needed it the most. But he wouldn’t talk about it so we didn’t ask. Even though we thought he was just playing around, at least he was helping us out,” Jun explained casually, and the other two went quiet, Kazu listening intently as if daring Jun to say one incorrect sentence and Masaki merrily going back to his pickled melons as if he had won the fight.  
  
“Turned out it was much more extreme than that. One day Kazu got caught by the guards during a failed retreat and Sho jumped in right before he got his hand cut off. Turned out he was the sultan’s son and whatever he said went. None of us wanted to leave him behind in a situation like that, but there was nothing we could do, and we were shocked anyway, right?”  
  
“Damn right! Couldn’t even give us a _hint_?” Kazu spat, then curled his knees up against his chest defensively and stared at the ground in front of him with an irritated look. “He was probably just out checking the status of his subjects or something stupidly altruistic like that.”  
  
“Every day, Kazu?” Masaki asked gently. “Maybe at first he was just having fun with us, but in the end he was really helping you know.”  
  
“And you haven’t seen him again?” Satoshi curiously asked with furrowed brows, as if he was indeed disturbed by the tragic story of their lost friendship.  
  
“Not after that day. I suppose it was…” Jun paused to recount the how long it had been. It seemed like forever since he had seen Sho. “About three years ago now. I mean, there are always a million rumors flying around about him, being the oldest son of the sultan and all.”  
  
“The most recent ones are that a witch is after him!” Although he sounded excited, a second later Masaki’s expression fell into worry. “I know why. He’s handsome and charming and he can do anything. He’s really down to earth and he didn’t act like a prince at all. He was just like us,” he avidly explained to the genie, his eyes widening a little as he got caught up in the explanation.  
  
“You sound more like you’re trying to elect him for something,” Kazu threw in wryly, attempting to force a smile even if he was just as worried.  
  
With a confused face, Masaki turned to look at his friend, evidently struggling for a minute before giving up on that point and moving on, facing Satoshi again.  
  
“They say it’s Matsuko, that fat witch from the Black Island across the desert!”  
  
“She prefers the term sorceress by the way,” Jun threw in for no reason other than to make Satoshi turn his head towards him a little.  
  
“Same thing,” the genie supplied unhelpfully and pulled Jun’s arm across his waist. It was probably a bad thing that he was getting used to the squishy texture of Satoshi’s essentially weightless body.  
  
“Stupid thing, wants to take Sho away,” Kazu grumbled, resting his chin on his knees. “Even if we can’t meet him, being locked up in that stupid palace is better than at some witch’s mercy.”  
  
The conversation fell silent for a second before he added in a small voice, “I wish I could see him again.”  
  
Those words made the entire atmosphere change. Even Masaki paused thoughtfully before turning to the genie at the same time that Kazu’s eyes widened and he immediately opened his mouth to take the words back.  
  
But it was too late.  
  
Satoshi was gone.  
  
His bottle still clung to Jun’s hip, though, and there was a slight blue haze surrounding the mouth of it, so it was safe to assume it wasn’t permanent.  
  
By the time Jun had anxiously stood up to look around the room, hoping that it was just the genie’s twisted sense of humor and he was hiding, Satoshi was back and this time he wasn’t alone.  
  
Sho appeared in midair as if he had been laying on a bed and it had been pulled right out from under him, then promptly fell to the ground with a loud thump and a yell of surprise; that sound was promptly followed by a similar, much more upset, yell from Kazu, and an exclamation from Masaki.  
  
“I didn’t mean it! Take it back!” Kazu begged, staring at Sho with wide eyes. At the same time, Sho looked at Kazu with his own startled stare, obviously trying to figure out what had just happened to him. He was wearing casual clothes, flowing red pants with a small matching jacket, but despite how simple they were, the quality was a stark contrast against their faded abode in the background.  
  
Even after a few seconds he hadn’t disappeared again, so Kazu continued, weaker, “Satoshi, _please_.”  
  
The genie frowned and folded his arms, floating next to Sho and looking quite dissatisfied with the reception he was getting. “Sorry, I can’t.”  
  
“What do you _mean_ —“ Kazu raised his voice, almost yelling. His eyes shifted between Satoshi and Sho several times, although in return, Sho’s eyes never left Kazu. He began to recover from his fall, slowly pushing himself off the floor, and after standing there dumbly for a moment, started towards his long lost friend.  
  
“Satoshi! I wish for you to take Sho back to wherever he came from right now!” Jun cut in, staring at the genie piercingly. But that only ruffled him more, making his blue body puff up like a threatened chicken.  
  
“I said _can’t_! Not _won’t_ ,” he replied angrily, furrowing his brows and protruding his bottom lip in a pout.  
  
Jun came closer with his own upset stare, placing his hands on his hips. “It was Kazu’s wish that you granted, not mine. I still have my wish for today, don’t I?” he argued, and Satoshi’s eyebrow twitched as he scrunched up his face again, mirroring Jun’s actions of putting his hands on his hips.  
  
“That’s not the reason! It was easy enough to get him out, but there are too many spells keeping anyone from going _in_.” It seemed like the genie had finally lost his steam, and Jun did as well upon hearing that they was an actual reason, and not that it was just Satoshi being hard-headed.  
  
“But how did you get in in the first place then?” Masaki interrupted, confused. He was the only one paying attention, since Sho was still staring at Kazu uncertainly and Kazu was looking away in embarrassment, obviously not willing to give up his irritation.  
  
“Well, I mean for _me_ it’s fine, but once I have baggage,” Satoshi pointed at Sho to clarify, “No longer possible.”  
  
They all fell silent, obviously not impressed by the explanation.  
  
“But anyway!” the genie said a little too loudly, suddenly looking overconfident again. “You should be thanking me! He was about to be taken by the witch you know.”  
  
That got a reaction, all of them turning to him together.  
  
“I was?” Sho was the first to ask.  
  
“Yes, you were,” Satoshi replied manner-of-factly. “I saved you.”  
  
“How do you know that?” Kazu asked with a sighed, rubbing his head in exasperation as if he didn’t know what to believe.  
  
“I just do! Don’t doubt me and my genie powers! She was practically at the front door!”  
  
“Okay,” Sho said evenly, motioning for them to calm down. It was obvious why he had been the head of this group, and a worthy prince on top of that. He had only been with them a few minutes and the synergy had already shifted to accommodate his stable presence. “It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not anyway. I’m still here, and apparently I can’t get back.”  
  
“You’re right.” Kazu took a deep breath. “I guess the first thing we need to do is figure out if they know you’re gone.”  
  
“If they did, the guard would be out looking for me,” Sho replied immediately and took a step closer to Kazu, gently reaching up to touch his arm, and it seemed like they were no longer talking about the botched wish at all.  
  
“You… You have to go back, Sho,” Kazu whispered. “You don’t belong here.”  
  
“I _don’t_ think that’s a good idea,” Masaki broke in tentatively. “I mean, if the witch is after him.”  
  
“He’s right,” Sho agreed. “I’ll stay, at least until we know the situation.”  
  
“You guys are hopeless.”  
  
They all turned to Jun at the same time, and after he had their attention, he forced a grin.  
  
“I’ll check to see if anyone is running around looking for him. You three stay here until I get back,” he said, and Sho couldn’t stop himself from letting out a small relieved smile in return.  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
When he turned to leave, Satoshi appeared next to him, but when he caught Jun’s eyes they narrowed a bit as he frowned.  
  
“I knew I should have left you in that pile of rubble.”  
  
“I saved your friend from the witch!” Satoshi shot back in an offended voice, and drifted along with Jun as he headed for the balcony, the fastest way across the roofs towards the center of town.  
  
“Get back in your bottle, will you? You’ll only draw attention to us!”  
  
As he mumbled something about being ungrateful, Satoshi followed the directions and shrunk again, twirling around twice before fitting himself back into his home. He didn’t say another word, but Jun could tell he was still pouting, simply from the aura radiating from the bottle.  
  
But he ignored it for the time being, too busy scouting out the streets looking for erratic guards and trying to figure out what kind of wish he could make to correct things. At the same time, though, he was glad that Sho had come back to them, even if it was only for a day. Maybe he could fix things with Kazu, and if he had indeed been saved by Satoshi, every moment of worry and nervousness had been worth it; even if he would never tell the genie that himself.  
  
Finally, after exploring a bit, Jun spotted a group of soldiers on patrol, but they weren’t running around in a frenzy or calling out news to the rest of the townsfolk, so he concluded that Sho’s disappearance hadn’t been noticed yet, and he wondered if that was a good or bad thing.  
  
Plopping down next to a wall leading to a taller building than the one he was currently on, Jun pulled the bottle into his lap and poked at it a little before offering, “Satoshi?” It was the closest he would come to giving an apology, and that was only because he needed help now.  
  
“What?” the bottle answered in the same cavernous sound as the day before.  
  
“Could you check to see if there’s any spells floating around? Someone looking for him from the castle?”  
  
A blue wisp floated out of the top and immediately created a miniature version of Satoshi’s torso, and the genie leaned himself against the mouth of the bottle as he looked up at Jun with a probing stare.  
  
He was still pouting and didn’t say anything in return, so Jun gently reached forward and touched him with his finger, ruffling his hair before slipping it under the tiny chin where it barely fit, rubbing him like a cat. That seemed to cheer him up.  
  
“Well…” Satoshi wrapped both his arms around the finger and snuggled it before making himself comfortable. “Nothing that I can sense. Although…” he trailed off, looking at Jun quite seriously.  
  
“What is it?” he prodded in a soft voice.  
  
“Jun, you should wish for me to keep the witch from finding your home.”  
  
“The witch?”  
  
“She’s still looking for him, and now that he doesn’t have any protection…”  
  
“If that’s what you want, why don’t you just do it?” Jun asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at the genie and wondering if he was being tricked. Maybe there was something else he was planning on doing to them, justifying it through Jun’s wish.  
  
In response Satoshi looked irritated at the distrust and pushed Jun’s finger away before promptly returning to his normal size, turning around and pretending to watch the sky as he folded his arms defensively.  
  
“There’s only so much power that I can use for myself before I have to stop. That’s part of the genie’s curse. If my master wishes for it, I have all the power in the world.”  
  
“Except not enough to overcome a few sorcerer’s barriers?”  
  
“It’s complicated. I would have broken them, and then Sho would have been a sitting duck, right?” Satoshi argued, and Jun couldn’t quite shake the feeling that there was more to it than Satoshi doing a good deed for them. There was always more to it when a genie was involved.  
  
“Fine. I’ll have another wish tomorrow anyway,” Jun mumbled under his breath.  
  
“As soon as I recover,” Satoshi added as an afterthought, and Jun glanced over at him. “Two wishes a day takes a lot out of me, you know.”  
  
“Sure,” Jun shrugged. He wasn’t going to follow the genie blindly, though, so he decided that he would just have to change things a little to continue to have the upper hand. “I wish that you would keep the witch from finding Sho.”  
  
“Jun, that’s not what I said, I said to keep the witch from finding your _home_ ,” Satoshi replied nervously, finally turning back to him with a slack expression. “Hurry and change it!” His fists clenched tightly as if it was taking all of his effort to fight the compulsion to grant the explicitly stated wish.  
  
“I know,” came the cool answer. “And that’s not what I’m wishing for. I’m wishing for you to keep the witch from finding Sho. That should be more effective.”  
  
“It _won’t_ ,” the genie tried to argue one more time, but by then he was forced to give in and he let out an angry yell before his body went rigid and then suddenly became limp. Even his blue wisp gently sank to the ground and Satoshi slumped with it, resting his hands on the roof underneath them before drawing all of his energy together and looking up at Jun one more time, very sadly.  
  
Then he slowly dissipated into the blue smoke and slunk back into his bottle without another word.  
  
+++  
  
It had taken all of five minutes for Sho to coax Kazu into sitting next to him on his hammock, and all of two minutes more to slip his arms around him and cradle him next to his chest, drinking in every precious moment they had together while Jun was out searching the city for news.  
  
Masaki let them be, playing look-out at one of the windows, and it was obvious he wanted things fixed as much as the rest of them did.  
  
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Kazu…”  
  
“Don’t be stupid,” Kazu whispered back, his gaze falling to where he was unconsciously twirling one of Sho’s pant tassels around his finger. “I would have lost my hand, or something worse. I’m thankful you stepped in for me.” His voice was polite and forced and that made Sho sigh in frustration.  
  
“You realize that once my father found out what I was doing with my time that he forbid me from coming back, right? He assigned a new sorcerer to guard me and restrict my movements outside the palace. If not for that genie pulling me out of there, I don’t think I’d have ever seen you again.”  
  
“Are you an idiot?” Kazu suddenly burst out emotionally in return, hitting Sho’s chest with his fist hard enough to make him wince. “The witch is after you! Don’t you think it’s better to be protected in the palace than in the open out here?”  
  
After a short struggling between them, Kazu trying to wretch himself out of Sho’s arms while Sho held him in place before pinning him underneath him with his natural strength, he replied quietly. “If being taken by the witch means I got to see you for even only this long, then I’ll accept it,” he replied passionately, then promptly stopped wasting time and pressed his lips to Kazu’s.  
  
That was when Masaki politely stopped watching them out of the corner of his eye. All of them knew that only Sho could really fill the hole that had been opened in Kazu’s heart, and as much as he didn’t want his friend to become victim to the witch, he agreed. Even if they were only given this one chance, they would have to make due. But they were good at making due.  
  
He continued to stare out over the roof tops, not really looking for anything except Jun (although sometimes his eyes would automatically follow a group of pigeons that were making their way slowly across the skyline). It would no doubt be a while until he was back, though, so there was nothing for Masaki to do but try to conserve his energy and maybe eat some pickled melon.  
  
Luckily enough most of the melons had survived the night, but by tomorrow they would be squishy and sickly sweet, and even though Masaki knew the others would prefer them that way to his new creation, they would get tired of them quickly too. It was better to have options with things such as that, and he knew that Sho would be proud of him for coming up with such an inventive idea. Of course, that was if he wasn’t so busy trying to make up time with Kazu, who had struggled to forgive him after finding out his big secret. Masaki already knew that he loved them just as much as he was loved in return, and in fact he had been waiting for Sho to find some way back to them, even if it took a few years. In the end, he was just happy that they had met in the first place and got to share at least some time together. No matter what they would protect him now that their little group had a role to play in this magical mess.  
  
It had been long enough now that if Jun wasn’t back, it meant that Sho’s disappearance had gone unnoticed. Or that the sultan chose not to send guards out looking for him, but was the less likely choice since he would need all the help he could get in searching for the prince. Masaki actually wondered what they would do if they _were_ looking. It wasn’t like they could just hand Sho back over and let the witch snatch him up right before their eyes.  
  
He continued to think about their options. Kazu and Sho had gotten quiet a while ago but they hadn’t moved from Kazu’s hammock either so Masaki could only assume they were still snuggling and whispering to each other.  
  
At least they had Satoshi on their side. Although Jun and Kazu seemed to think he needed to be handled carefully, Masaki had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that Satoshi was really a good guy and that he was going to help them as much as he could, despite his selfish attitude. He was a victim too, anyway, because it must be terrible living in that tiny bottle, especially after so many years, and Masaki certainly didn’t want to answer to someone as his master.  
  
It was about the time that his thoughts had turned to Satoshi that it happened.  
  
It came so subtly that he probably would not have noticed had the air around his bare ankles not dropped several degrees in less than a second. Even then all he could do was look down questioningly.  
  
A black haze that barely stood out against the dust on the floor was collecting together like smoke, circling around his leg as more and more molecules came together out of mid-air. Although he watched it curiously, there was a distinct foreboding that came along with the shiver that ran up his spine, but when he tried to move away it followed him.  
  
Then it took a hold on him tightly and quite solidly. Masaki yelped loudly in surprise as well as pain as he reached down and tried to pry it off of him. But his balance was diminishing by his leg being raised into the air by whatever was attacking him, and he wasn’t getting anywhere with his efforts.  
  
“What’s the matter?” Kazu’s head peeked over the side of the hammock, then when he saw the problem, pushed Sho off of him right onto the floor so that he could get out. “What the hell?!”  
  
The black smoke was becoming denser so that it almost looked like a dyed rope, but it was moving completely of its own accord, continuing to pull Masaki until he had no choice but to fall to the ground, struggling as the thing raised his leg even higher.  
  
Running across the room, Kazu only made it halfway before he was stopped without any warning, Sho still sprawled out in shock on the ground several feet behind him.  
  
“I suppose this one will be good enough,” a deep whiny voice permeated the air, and without creating any more suspense, a huge black blob, not unlike the stuff wrapped around Masaki’s leg, materialized right next to the struggling figure. “Although I really wanted the prince.”  
  
“No way!” Masaki gasped. He was breathing heavily from excitement and trying to escape, craning his head to catch a glimpse of the witch as she came into view.  
  
She could be described in two words: black and fat. Her dress draped over her like rolls of fabric had simply been layered upon each other, strategically placed on the ground in a train behind her to increase her intimidating ambiance. Despite the heat, her arms and neck were completely covered. The only real skin showing was her two chubby hands and face, and what could be seen was as pale as if she had never been out in the sunlight. Her hair too was pitch black, and its oily texture caught the light as she turned to Masaki to examine her catch.  
  
“I didn’t care that he was a prince, though,” she explained in a clipped tone as he looked down at her victim. “He was just handsome was all. I like handsome men, and you’ll do, I suppose.”  
  
“Let him down you fat old pig! He’s far too stupid anyway, he wouldn’t be worth it,” Kazu called angrily. Even as he tried to get his feet to move they wouldn’t take even one step closer, and Sho was still struggling to even stand up.  
  
“Oh, a little bite in that one,” the witch smirked, turning towards Kazu with half lidded eyes. “I like that.”  
  
With just those words, Masaki was dropped to the ground with a thump and this time Kazu was caught, although much more deeply than his friend. Black tendrils of solid smoke wrapped around him from his ankles to his torso, holding his arms at both sides to keep him from fighting back—even though his body wasn’t really moving anyway.  
  
“You filthy _witch_ , let me go—“ he cursed, managing to twist his head a little. In reality, though, he was trying to be distracting, worried that at any second she would realize that was Sho behind him… if she hadn’t already.  
  
“I prefer sorceress,” she commented in her clipped voice once again and positioned one of her clammy hands under his chin as she slid up in front of him. “Although I’m sure we can make some sort of compromise.”  
  
“I’ll never—“Kazu started to reply passionately, but before he could say anything more, Sho was charging them, yelling himself, “ _Let him go!_ ”  
  
What all of them expected to happen, didn’t.  
  
Sho himself was not caught, nor was he countered by the magic, nor did the witch so much as even blink in his direction.  
  
But as soon as his hands touched the black smoke, trying to pull Kazu free, it recoiled and he made the witch flinch, looking over in his general direction with surprise and frowning in annoyance as Sho continued to use his advantage to back her off.  
  
Apparently Sho had some kind of magical touch, and after she realized it, Matsuko retreated, disappearing and reappearing halfway across the room, glaring in the newly freed Kazu’s direction but unable to lay her eyes on Sho directly.  
  
“What magic is this at play?” she whined angrily and readjusted her hair as if it had only been a minor inconvenience.  
  
Between the space where the words left her mouth and before she had taken any action was when Jun made his appearance.  
  
Jun had been sulking all the way back because of Satoshi’s cold attitude and lack of response to any of his attempts, whether they had been nice or teasing. It was true that he had granted four wishes in two days, but Jun thought he shouldn’t promise those sorts of things if he couldn’t deliver. Besides, he had botched all of them in some way or another, so they really shouldn’t count anyway.  
  
Indeed he was so upset over that and the fact that he hadn’t made any real discoveries, that he wasn’t really paying attention when he trudged in, and hadn’t noticed that no one was at the balcony eagerly waiting for his return.  
  
He stepped right into the room with a sigh, drawing the stares of all four occupants, and his eyes went straight to the black blob that appeared to be a woman, or a man disguised as a woman, wondering why the hell she was here.  
  
Then she smiled at him quite evilly.  
  
“Ah. The shining star of this little handsome man group. And the cause of all of this. Perfect,” she said in short phrases, ending as if she was not quite finished. “I’ve made my decision.”  
  
The witch promptly turned into a pitch black cloud and shot towards Jun, who staggered back in surprise. But right before she reached him, a shield of blue sprung up and managed to deflect the attack.  
  
“Satoshi!” Jun gasped, suddenly very worried, especially after how exhausted the genie had looked earlier. There were no wishes left, he had said, at least not until he had rested, and certainly the short trip back to the pavilion hadn’t done much to help with that.  
  
It was hard to see anything as the two magical beings fought, but Matsuko‘s voice could be heard easily enough.  
  
“A genie. I should have known.”  
  
“You can’t have him! He’s mine!”  
  
“Finders keepers or something like that!”  
  
“Go back to your isolated… island… you old hag.” It was Satoshi’s voice, but it sounded like he was panting, and then silence fell.  
  
Finally their mixture of smoke and fog decreased, and Jun’s vision became clear again, the woman from before standing across from him looking triumphant.  
  
“You should know better than to take me on in the state you’re in. You never would have won.”  
  
Jun followed her gaze to find Satoshi back in his usual form, collapsed on the floor. He was barely holding himself up on one elbow as he panted for breath, putting all of his energy into keeping himself together. Automatically Jun tried to reach out for him, but his limbs weren’t obeying his brain and all he could do was watch as the witch flashed another spell directly at the genie, causing him to let out a yelp of pain and finally crumble.  
  
As if he was a rubber band that had lost most of its stretch, Satoshi was pathetically pulled back into the bottle at Jun’s hip by his wisp of a bottom, and he slid all the way inside, not leaving a trace behind.  
  
“That should do it,” Matsuko bit out, then snapped her fingers. A black cap appeared out of nowhere and fastened itself to the mouth of the bottle, fitting around it tightly and causing Jun to suddenly panic. Somehow he felt like he had just broken a promise to the genie. He didn’t want to be locked in there and Jun certainly didn’t want him to be locked in there either.  
  
“Satoshi!” was all he could get out before he was surrounded by pitch black smoke.  
  
+++  
  
Jun woke to find himself on a large bed that actually looked more like a shallow swimming pool filled with pillows and linens instead of water.  
  
Of course he was chained to the headboard, a jet black manacle locked around one of his wrists, and it clanged when he moved it. But at least the other hand was free and he used it to rub his face in order to wake up from the haze that was weighing down his consciousness.  
  
It felt (and smelled) like he had just finished a bath, and even the usual ring of grime around his feet was absent when he glanced down to check. Instead of his ragged clothes he was wearing something new as well, something that probably cost the same as the whole building that their pavilion belonged to. It consisted of silk pants that were almost completely see-through up until mid-thigh (Jun took a moment to be grateful that it wasn’t _all_ see-through) and a matching purple scarf wrapped around his waist as a belt. That was all, other than a few accessories like a delicate anklet made up of tiny bells, and a jewel that had been glued right below his belly button.  
  
He was suitable enough for a human sacrifice.  
  
“Damn it,” Jun cursed under his breath, pushing himself up and feeling quite sore from his trip in addition to being completely irritated about _everything_.  
  
Then he saw it.  
  
Satoshi’s bottle.  
  
It was innocently standing on the far frame of the bed, almost completely blending in with the lavish surroundings of the room, and still had the black cap locking him inside fastened around the mouth.  
  
And of course Jun would never be able to get to it, even though trying to was the first thing he did. He reached across the bed as far as he could, stretching the chain to its full length and then pulling with all his strength, but it wasn’t enough and Jun knew it would never be enough if he didn’t free himself first.  
  
After regrouping, falling back against the bed and panting slightly, he sat straight up again as Matsuko appeared by his side, laying down next to him in a different black dress that showed slightly more skin than before (mostly on her oily triple chin).  
  
“I thought I heard you wake up, you silly boy,” she grumbled, reaching out to pat his shoulder. But Jun reflexively scooted back and out of her reach. “You’ve been out all day. I’ve been bored waiting for you!” Her voice was a little stronger, anger coming out quiet vividly.  
  
“What the hell! Take me back!” he demanded before he could stop himself. It was probably better that it was him over Sho, but at the same time Jun _certainly_ didn’t want to be here either.  
  
“I won’t. I’ve finally decided to explore male sexuality, and you’re my first subject,” came the reply, and the witch moved closer with a curved smile.  
  
“At least… at least give me time to prepare!” The window of opportunity he had right now was very small, and he wasn’t going to let it go to waste. Maybe he could buy enough time to get Satoshi’s help somehow…  
  
“You’ve had plenty of time!” she chided, and pounced on him with so much agility that she had to be using magic.  
  
“Wait! Wait!” Jun managed to stop her as she grabbed onto his chin with her chubby hands, her face closing in on his. “You said I’ve been out for a while?” His thoughts immediately went to the genie, wondering if he’d had time to recover and what he could possibly do with that if he had. Satoshi was still locked inside that bottle!  
  
“That’s right. Plenty of time for me to get worked up,” the witch replied, squeezing his face hard enough that Jun cringed.  
  
He tried to pull away (not getting very far) and did the only thing he could think of to do.  
  
“Satoshi? You’re watching this aren’t you? Are you just gonna sit there and let her do this to me? I thought I was yours!” he yelled towards the bottle, wishing that he was worth enough that Satoshi would do something in retaliation. He hated to admit it, but at this point the genie was his last hope.  
  
“Ah, that thing?” the witch asked in a bored tone, her droopy eyes becoming droopier in annoyance. “I thought you might be caught up on him. That’s why I left him in here. Looks like I was right.”  
  
Jun’s eyes widened at the suggestion that he was _caught up_ on Satoshi, then it immediately dawned on him that he was indeed afraid of Satoshi getting any more hurt than he already had been earlier. Of course, the cunning old hag, finding his biggest weakness right off the bat and using it against him!  
  
“Satoshi how dare you! You really are just going to sit there and not lift a finger to help me! I thought we were friends! I thought we had _something_!” Jun continued to babble, not really knowing or caring what came out of his mouth. If this was his last chance he might as well take all the risks he could and maybe end up lucky.  
  
“If he’s that much of a distraction I’ll dispose of him immediately,” the witch warned in a bored tone, not impressed by Jun’s tantrum. She sat on him, crushing him under her weight, and smothered him with her draping black dress.  
  
With a weak grunt of pain, Jun reached out as far as he could with his free hand and said, “Satoshi…!” one more time, wondering if the slight shaking of the bottle was his desperate imagination or not. He couldn’t actually tell what he was seeing between his squished face and the black veil falling over his eyes.  
  
“That’s more like it.” The witch’s voice changed to pleased and she dug her fingers into Jun’s shoulder while the other one grabbed his hair, pulling. As if her crushing weight wasn’t enough, that just plain _painful_.  
  
“Stop it! You’re hurting me!” he tried to struggle again, but his strength was gone and all he could see was his future being sucked into a black spiral of the witch’s dress folds.  
  
Then a delicate chink of glass echoed thorough the room and Jun turned to look at the genie’s bottle at the same time that Matsuko did.  
  
It had fallen over on its side and was rolling slightly, rotating until the neck of the bottle was pointed at the struggling pair, and the witch pulled back to frown at it, obviously meaning to take care of it. Jun wouldn’t let that happen though, and even though he doubted it would help much, he grabbed onto the witches huge upper arms and held on.  
  
Right before their eyes, the black cap exploded off of the bottle and Satoshi flew out in the same intimidating glory that Jun had seen the first time they had met.  
  
“How dare you touch him like that!” he yelled first, filling up the side of the room with his expanded muscular torso and sending out a small wind that rustled the witch’s clothing. “I warned you!”  
  
“Oh, you really are. Challenging me, that is,” the witch bit back with a frown, but she looked less than confident despite her words.  
  
Before she could even escape Jun’s useless grip, Satoshi swirled his hands in a weird motion that was hard to follow and then his familiar blue smoke was suddenly surrounding Jun, and the weight of the witch was gone.  
  
To be replaced with a different weight, Jun noticed as the smoke dispersed only slightly less abruptly than it had come, and he sat up to find a tabby cat situated on his lap, looking up at him with big, scared eyes.  
  
He picked it up curiously and furrowed his brows. It wasn’t black but it was fat and that seemed to be enough to convince him that this was now the witch he was looking at. It meowed back as if to confirm his suspicions.  
  
After setting it aside, probably more gently than it deserved, he turned to Satoshi who had promptly shrunk to his normal size. As he leaned against the side of the bed quite exhausted, he was panting and watching Jun through weary eyes.  
  
Jun came closer, pleased to find that his manacle had disappeared along with the witch. But as he did so, the genie didn’t move at all in response, other than his fading eyes, which followed Jun.  
  
“Satoshi?” he asked softly, touching the genie’s hair as gently as possible, afraid that he would disappear into blue smoke right under his hand. It was true that his plan had been to goad Satoshi into helping him, but at this point Satoshi looked like he was about ready to disappear all together.  
  
“Told you,” he gasped back, his torso rising and falling with his labored breaths. “There’s only so much power that I can use… for myself… before… I have to stop… part of the… genie’s curse.”  
  
“What do you mean?! Because you used all of that power to save me?” Jun was quite hysterical now, wondering if he should have just submitted to Matsuko and then saved Satoshi himself when the opportunity arose. He hadn’t realized how much of a risk had come with his plan, but now it was obvious as the genie’s eyes grew dimmer with each passing second. “What do I do, Satoshi?”  
  
“Make… a wish,” he panted softly and Jun pulled him into his arms gently, cradling the genie in his lap where he had always been the happiest. “That’ll help.”  
  
“Stupid!” Jun could feel himself getting emotional and he quickly wiped one of his eyes with the back of his hand. “I wish you could get rid of this damn genie’s curse!”  
  
“Oh,” was the only response he got before Satoshi’s regular wispy bottom-half began to unravel into a pair of legs, the smoke simply disappearing into thin air. When it was finished Satoshi looked the same as when he had bribed the guards away, as a simple man that had been out in the sun too long. It was probably how he had been before becoming a genie, Jun realized, and the weight of what he had wished for finally hit him.  
  
“Thank you,” Satoshi sighed, not looking any less exhausted than before, but Jun was sure some of the heaviness in the air had lifted and he took a breath of relief.  
  
But Satoshi added one more thing that made Jun’s eyes widen, and he would spend the rest of the afternoon cursing himself and his lack of luck with wishes.  
  
“But you should have wished us back first.”


End file.
